Shawnawdithit (or Shanawdithit) was supposed to be the last of the Beothuk or red indians of Newfoundland. She died in her late 20s of tuberculosis in 1829.
“Died, at St. John’s, Newfoundland, on the 6th of June last, in the 29th year of her age, Shawnawdithit, supposed to be the last of the Red Indians or Boeothicks. This interesting female lived six years a captive among the English, and when taken notice of latterly, exhibited extraordinary strong natural talents. She was niece to Mary March’s husband, a chief of the tribe, who was accidentally killed in 1819, at the Red Indians’ Lake, in the interior, while endeavouring to rescue his wife from the party of English who took her, the view being to open a friendly intercourse with his tribe. This tribe, the aborigines of Newfoundland, presents an anomaly in the history of man. Excepting a few families of them soon after the discovery of America, they never held intercourse with the Europeans by whom they have been ever since surrounded, nor with the other tribes of Indians since the introduction of fire-arms among them.”
Stamford Mercury, 18th September 1829